


Safe and Sound

by curiousloveable



Category: Mindhunter (TV 2017)
Genre: Cuddling, Gen, Hospitals, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Not Beta Read, Sharing a Bed, can be read as platonic or romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 12:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20582432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiousloveable/pseuds/curiousloveable
Summary: Holden is used to hostage negotiations, but this time it's different.





	Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lapsi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lapsi/gifts).

> So this idea came after I had a dream (and read a lot of lapsi's Mindhunter fics) and stayed with me for a few days until I decided to write it down, even though I don't usually publish my fic ideas (I don't write a lot of fanfiction)...  
Also English is not my first language so don't expect too much from this. I don't know how to use commas in English XD

They storm the building (if you can call it that) in the early morning hours. There's barely any light outside and the air is cold and crisp. Everything is quiet except for the birds in the woods as Holden and the SWAT team slowly surround the small cabin. A fucking cabin in the woods, as if their suspect has read too many crime novels, Holden thinks grimly. His grip on the gun is tight as he follows the other cops to the entrance of the small house. He can see his breath fogging infront of him and hopes that the hostage hasn't been freezing to death during the past three days. Holden has to forcefully put that thought out of his mind and focus back on the task before him. He cannot be distracted right now as he listens to the voice of the SWAT leader counting down in his ear piece.

The SWAT members kick down the door easily, entering in a rush without much shouting. They are trying to catch the kidnapper by surprise, hoping he will be asleep during these early morning hours. Holden enters after the SWAT team, holding his gun up as he slowly steps inside. The cabin is very small so the first thing Holden sees is their suspect on the ground with two SWAT members holding him down as they put handcuffs on him, shouting at him to keep still and that he is under arrest. The kidnapper doesn't even look scared or angry, just confused and maybe resigned. Holden barely spares him a glance as he keeps walking into the cabin.

There is a small kitchen next to the entrance and further down an open door that looks like it leads to a bathroom. Holden can hear some of the SWAT members shouting 'clear' as they sweep the other rooms, but there's no word about sights on the hostage yet. There is a closed door at the end of the small hallway and Holden approaches it carefully, holding his gun up as he opens it slowly. They have no knowledge if there are other criminals involved in this, altough they are fairly sure that it's only the one suspect who is resposible for the kidnapping. Holden reminds himself to be careful as he opens the door but can sense that another cop steps up behind him, giving him cover.

The room behind the door is completely dark and Holden feels for a light switch next to the door. As he clicks the light on, he can see stairs leading down into the basement of the cabin. Holden feels a wave of dread building up inside him, as he carefully takes the steps downstairs. Up until now he never thought about the possibility of finding the victim already dead upon their arrival, but finding a corpse at the bottom of these stairs suddenly feels like a very real possibility now.

It's not until he has reached the last steps, that he can finally see the whole room. There is a single lightbulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling that barely illuminates the tiny space at all. It's incredibly cold down here and kind of damp as well. The room is basically bare so it only takes one look for Holden's eyes to fall on the person slumped on a chair in the dark corner.

"Bill!" he almost shouts as Holden rushes over to his partner whose hands are tied behing his back, crouching down infront of the other man.

At first it seems like Bill is unconscious but then he slowly opens his eyes, blinking against the light. It takes him a moment to focus on Holden's face infront of him and another few seconds until Holden can see the recognition in his eyes.

"Holden?" he almost sounds confused and his voice is scratchy, probably from disuse, hopefully not from screaming. Holden pushes the thought out of his mind as fast as he can.

"Hey there," Holden almost whispers and he can hear how choked up he sounds with relief flooding him.

Bill looks terrible. There is dried blood on the left side of his face, starting from a cut on his eyebrow, as well as under his nose. Probably broken, Holden thinks as he gently places one hand on Bill's shoulder and the other on the right side of his head. His skin is cold to the touch. Bill's lip is split as well, even if the wound isn't bleeding anymore.

"Not sure you were gonna show up in time," Bill admits under his breath and he sounds incredibly tired.

Holden feels a twitch of guilt as he gives his partner a watery smile and stands up to move around Bill. "Let's get you out of here," he says in what he hopes is a reassuring tone and takes out a knife to cut throught the zipties on Bill's wrists.

"Careful, he broke three of my fingers," Bill mutters as Holden frees him and walks back around the chair to help him up.

"Jesus," Holden breathes and feels even more guilt well up inside him. "Can you stand?" he asks and waits for Bill to nod his agreement before continuing. "Come on, let's get you to a hospital." Holden takes Bill's arm and puts it over his own shoulder to help his partner up who slumps against him.

It's been three days since Bill went missing and Holden has spent many hours thinking about what might have happen to him during that time. Seeing his partner this weak almost makes him want to cry. Bill has always held no small amount of strenght and authority. He was always someone Holden knew he could count on, could lean on in case he needed to. In all the time since they've known each other, Holden has never seen his partner this weak. Did that fucker give him nothing to eat or drink during the last few days? Holden can feel rage build up inside him as they slowly make their way to the stairs. Bill grunts as if he is in pain and Holden can feel all of his anger draining out of him and being replaced by worry. He doesn't want to imagine Bill waiting three days in this cold and dark cellar, getting beaten up by that sick bastard, waiting for his partner to come and find him. 

"You hurt anywhere else?" he asks, trying to take as much of Bill's weight as the older man will let him. Which isn't that much and Holden suspects that even in his current state Bill is still trying to rely as little on Holden as possible.

"Don't know," Bill rasps next to him as they start climbing the stairs. "That fucker might have cracked a few rips when he beat me up." Holden is relieved that Bill sounds at least a little bit angry instead of broken and defeated. "I hope you shot him," Bill adds and Holden can feel himself smiling for the first time in the past three days.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but the SWAT team arrested him before I could put a bullet in the bastard," Holden answers and feels his heart soar when he hears Bill chuckle quietly although it must be painful.

Holden insists on riding in the ambulance with Bill even though his partner tries to tease him about it. Holden has his suspicions that Bill doesn't want his partner to see him like this, but he couldn't care less right now. He is just glad that Bill is still mostly in one piece and not dead in that basement.

In the hospital Holden sits next to Bill's bed as they wait for the doctor to show up and tell them the extent of Bill's injuries. They have to wait almost the whole day. Bill gives his statement to the local police and sometimes a nurse comes to check up on them. They don't talk about what happened and Holden is a little worried how unresponsive Bill is but guesses that his partner is just exhausted, so he tries not to bother him. They hook Bill up to an IV and the older man falls asleep several times but always startles awake after a few minutes. Holden tries not to look to concerned every time it happens.

The doctor confirms that Bill has three broken fingers and a concussion. His ribs are only bruised but thankfully not broken. He is also dehydrated and the doctor wants him to stay a few days but Bill insists on being released the same day ignoring Holden's protest. "I just need to go back to our motel room and sleep, Holden," he says in a tone of voice that almost sounds pleading so Holden falls silent and calls them a cab. Before they leave, the doctor asks Bill if he has any family that can help him out during his recovery and Bill pulls a face at the question. It's been a few months since Nancy left Bill and took Brian with her. They haven't talked much about it but Holden knows that Bill was only allowed to visit them a handful of times to see Brian. He is pretty sure that they are not going to get back together since Bill sold the house and rented a small apartment in Quantico. Before Bill has to answer the question, Holden speaks up to the doctor, telling him that he will be supporting his partner wich earns him a surprised look from both men. Thankfully no more questions are being asked after this and Holden helps Bill outside to their cab.

It's already in the evening, when they get back to the motel they checked into before all this shit happened, Bill goes straight to the bathroom to take a shower without so much as a word. Holden stands in the middle of their room, feeling utterly useless for a moment before he sits down on his bed, staring at the bathroom door. After a moment he gets up and knocks on the door to ask Bill if he wants anything to eat. Bill ate two sandwiches from the hospital canteen while they waited on the doctor, but he didn't have anything to eat for the past three days, so Holden isn't sure if that was enough. He only gets an affirmative grunt and orders them each a pizza from a local delivery service, before sitting back down on his bed.

A few minutes later, Bill emerges from the bathroom dressed in his boxers and undershirt. Holden watches his partner get under the covers of his bed and closing his eyes, as if he was going back to sleep.

"You want me to wake you up when the pizza arrives?" Holden asks, frowning at the behavior of the other man, but doesn't get a response.

Holden can't remember the last time he has felt this helpless in his life. He's at a loss what the correct behavior is in this situation or what Bill expects him to do or wants from him. Should he ask if Bill wants to talk about what happened? Should he just leave him be for now? Maybe all Bill needs is some rest and quiet. Maybe that's all he wants right now. Maybe he will get angry with Holden if he asks too many questions. Holden watches his partner on the bed next to his and is pretty sure that Bill isn't sleeping at all but stays quiet nonetheless.

It's almost a relief when there is a knock on the door thirty minutes later. Holden pays the delivery guy and carries the boxes into their room. Bill is already sitting up, rubbing his eyes and looking as if he is annoyed with himself for not being able to fall asleep. They eat in silence again and Holden is starting to feel more and more concerned about his partner and uncomfortable with the situation he finds himself in. Fuck, he should just say something, anything. But he can't bring himself to break the silence. He is scared, he realizes. Scared that Bill is angry with him for not finding him sooner. Holden feels guilty for not saving his partner faster than he did. Guilty because he failed him. Fuck, he is a terrible partner.

Holden has lost his appetite and excuses himself to the bathroom. He takes a shower and changes into his pajamas as well. When he gets back to their room, Bill is already back under his covers, feigning sleep. Holden sighs and moves to get into bed himself, clicking the light off. He lays in his bed, staring at the ceiling in silence, wondering if Bill will be able to fall asleep without startling awake like in the hospital. Holden can't forget the look of fear in his partner's eyes when he woke with a start several times.

Holden tries to fall asleep but finds it equally hard to do so. He has barely slept the past three days, working tirelessly on finding Bill. But now he can't fall asleep because his head is running a mile a minute, thinking about everything that has happened in the hours after Bill disappeared until now.

After what feels like a small eternity Holden sits up, looking at Bill on the other bed in the darkness. He can make out his partner, and the way he is breathing suggests that Bill isn't sleeping either. Holden lies back down and sighs before he speaks quietly in the dark, "if you need anything, I'm right here." There's no response, just like Holden expected. But just as Holden closes his eyes again to try to fall asleep, he can hear Bill moving next to him.

He opens his eyes again to watch Bill get out of his bed and move to Holden's bed, standing next to it for a second before sitting down and getting under the covers next to Holden. The younger man has to move over a bit to make room for his partner, even though he has no idea what is happening right now and why. The bed is too small for two people and their sides are touching as they lie next to each other. Bill turns onto his side with his back to Holden and remains quiet, as if he plans to just go back to sleep. As if all of this was completely normal. Holden turns onto his side as well, facing Bill's back, wondering what he is supposed to do.

Finally, after a few minutes he carefully places his hand on Bill's shoulder. At first, there is no reaction from Bill and Holden is thinking about retracting his hand again, when suddenly Bill moves his own hand to grip Holden's wrist. Holden can hear his breath hitch but doesn't dare move as he waits to see what Bill is going to do. Slowly, Bill pulls Holden's hand down so it rests over his side and Holden is embracing Bill from behind. Holden can barely breathe until Bill seems to be done and lets go of Holden's hand again. They stay like that for a few tense minutes, until Holden can feel a smile starting to spread across his face. He feels very warm all of a sudden and decides to move a little closer to Bill, pressing his chest against his partner's back and tightening his arm. Holden can feel the tension leaving Bill's frame and it only takes a few minutes until his partner is breathing evenly, finally asleep. Holden smiles and falls asleep as well.

It's only in the morning that both realize that Bill didn't startle awake once during the night.

**Author's Note:**

> So I had more ideas for dialog and Holden's thoughts, but decided to leave them out of this because I couldn't fit them in anywhere.... In my mind they were consulting on a case, trying to catch a killer, when the killer caught Bill alone somewhere (maybe while he was smoking a cigarette), and hit him over the head with something heavy. Then he took him to his hideout and enjoyed having an FBI agent at his mercy until Holden tracked him there.  
If anyone wants to give me feedback on errors so I can correct them, I would appreciate it :)


End file.
